pellucid definition

English

WOTD – 16 September 2022

Etymology

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin pellūcidus, perlucidus (“transparent, pellucid; very bright; very understandable”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘through; throughout; completely, thoroughly’) + lūcidus (“clear; full of light, bright, shining; (figuratively) easily understood, clear, lucid”)^[1] (from lūceō (“to shine; to become visible, show through; (figuratively) to be apparent, conspicuous, or evident”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to see; to shine”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)).

The noun is derived from the adjective.^[1]

cognates

Late Latin pellucidum (“transparent substance”)
Middle French pellucide (modern French pellucide (“pellucid”))

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɪˈl(j)uːsɪd/, /pɛ-/
Audio (UK) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /pəˈlusɪd/
Hyphenation: pel‧luc‧id

Adjective

pellucid (comparative more pellucid, superlative most pellucid) (literary)

Allowing the passage of light; translucent or transparent.
Synonyms: clear, limpid, lucid, (rare) perspicuous; see also Thesaurus:transparent

Antonyms: see Thesaurus:opaque
- 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of Our Complex Ideas of Substances”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], OCLC 153628242, book II, § 11, page 140:
  Blood to the naked Eye appears all red; but by a good Microſcope, vvherein its leſſer parts appear, ſhevvs only ſome fevv Globules of Red, ſvvimming in a pellucid Liquor; and hovv theſe Globules vvould appear, if Glaſſes could be found, that yet could magnifie them 1000, or 10000 times more, is uncertain.
- a. 1728 (date written), Isaac Newton, “[The Third Book of Opticks.] [Qu[estion] 25. Are there not other original Properties of the Rays of Light, besides those already described?]”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light. […], 4th edition, London: […] William Innys […], published 1730, OCLC 1118497469, page 329:
  This Cryſtal is a pellucid fiſſile Stone, clear as VVater or Cryſtal of the Rock, and vvithout Colour; enduring a red Heat vvithout loſing its tranſparency, and in a very ſtrong Heat calcining vvithout Fuſion.
- 1857, Robert Michael Ballantyne, chapter XVI, in The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, published 1859, OCLC 2949485, page 147:
  The sea was shining like a sheet of glass, […] and the bright sea-weeds and the brilliant corals shone in the depths of that pellucid water, as we rowed over it, like rare and precious gems.
- 1862, Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market”, in Goblin Market and Other Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; London: Macmillan & Co., […], OCLC 36794247, page 10:
  You cannot think what figs / My teeth have met in, / What melons icy-cold / Piled on a dish of gold / Too huge for me to hold, / What peaches with a velvet nap, / Pellucid grapes without one seed: […]
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘The Outlying Pickets of the New World’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, OCLC 1029993343, pages 119–120:
  The thick vegetation met overhead, interlacing into a natural pergola, and through this tunnel of verdure in a golden twilight flowed the green, pellucid river, beautiful in itself, but marvelous from the strange tints thrown by the vivid light from above filtered and tempered in its fall.
- 1926 November 27, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane”, in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, London: John Murray, […], published June 1927 (May 1952 printing), OCLC 1108013148, page 254:
  Most of the pool was quite shallow, but under the cliff where the beach was hollowed out it was four or five feet deep. It was to this part that a swimmer would naturally go, for it formed a beautiful pellucid green pool as clear as crystal.
(figuratively)
1. Easily understood; clear.
  Synonyms: crystal clear, lucid, perspicuous, translucent; see also Thesaurus:comprehensible
  
  Antonyms: see Thesaurus:incomprehensible
  - 1994 November 13, Fritz Lanham, The Houston Chronicle, Houston, Tex.: Houston Chronicle Pub. Co., ISSN 1074-7109, OCLC 1607806:
    Written in spare, pellucid prose, the book reads like a close-to-the-bone memoir.
  - 1999, Judith Butler, “Preface (1999)”, in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York, N.Y.; Abingdon, Oxon., published 2015, →ISBN, page xxvi:
    [Y]ou never receive me apart from the grammar that establishes my availability to you. If I treat that grammar as pellucid, then I fail to call attention precisely to that sphere of language that establishes and disestablishes intelligibility, and that would be precisely to thwart my own project as I have described it to you here.
2. Of music or some other sound: not discordant or harsh; clear and pure-sounding.
  - 1979 October 22, T. E. Kalem, “Theater: Monopod”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Time‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., ISSN 0928-8430, OCLC 224518090, archived from the original on 12 September 2022:
    Opera star [Giorgio] Tozzi sings with the richness of burnished bronze and [Sharon] Daniels complements him with her pellucid soprano.
3. Of a person, their mind, etc.: able to think and understand clearly; not confused; clear, sharp.
4. (archaic) Easily recognized or seen through; apparent, obvious.
  Synonyms: see Thesaurus:obvious
  
  Antonyms: see Thesaurus:subtle

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

allowing the passage of light — See also translations at translucent,‎ transparent

Bulgarian: прозрачен (bg) (prozračen)
Dutch: doorschijnend (nl)
Finnish: läpikuultava (fi)

Latin: pellūcidus
Spanish: transparente (es), diáfano (es), cristalino (es)

easily understood — See also translations at clear

Bulgarian: разбираем (bg) (razbiraem)
Finnish: helppotajuinen

Spanish: diáfano (es)

of music or some other sound: not discordant or harsh

Finnish: puhdassointinen

of a person, their mind, etc.: able to think and understand clearly

Finnish: selkeästi ajatteleva

easily recognized or seen through — see apparent,‎ obvious

Noun

pellucid (plural pellucids)

(obsolete, rare) Something which allows the passage of light; a translucent or transparent object.
- 1729, [Johann Jacob Hainlin], “Of the Vision of Pellucidity or Shining through”, in Venterus Mandey, transl., Synopsis Mathematica Universalis: Or, A Brief System of Mathematics, […], [3rd] edition, London: […] A. Ward, […], OCLC 224397196, paragraph 1, page 686:
  A Pellucid is not ſeen, but percieved^[sic] by the privation of Colour. So vve ſee not Air in Air, VVater in VVater, Glaſs in Glaſs, and every Pellucid in an equal Pellucid; and becauſe vve knovv they are not coloured, vve count them to be diaphanous, viz. that may be ſeen, or ſhone thorough.
- [1735?], Herman Boerhaave, “Being a Delineation of the Theory. [Of Stones.]”, in [anonymous], transl., Elements of Chemistry. Being the Annual Lectures of Hermann Boerhaave, M.D. […], volume I, London: […] J. Clarke […], and S. Austen […]; and sold by J. Roberts […], OCLC 316734458, page 33:
  The true Aſtroites, vvhich in the ſun-ſhine throvvs out a briſk light radiating from one certain point, belongs to the claſs of Pellucids.

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “pellucid, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “pellucid, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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